Monday, October 28, 2013

#2 Binus International A (Jaran Walia, Melisa Irene, Yosifebi Ramadhani) defeated home team #1 Universitas Gadjah Mada A (Romario Tambunan, Nabila Aghniarizqa, Alif Satria) to champion the inaugural Gadjah Mada Debating Tournament. They lost to UGM A in the preliminary stage but paid back when it counted most. In the final, they knocked down a proposal for Indonesia to invest in nuclear energy.

It was Jaran Walia's fourth trophy this year, reinforcing his position at the top of the 2013 Debater of the Year table. No other debater has won as many nationwide championships in 2013. The three previous victories came from the Indonesian Varsities English Debate, the National Universities Debating Championship and the Bawor Cup competition. UGM's Alif Satria bagged the best speaker award, giving the host a consolation prize and making him one of Jaran's closest rivals for the DOTY title.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

#1 Universitas Gadjah Mada A (Nabila Aghniarizqa, Alif Satria, Romario Tambunan) defeated all their opponents in the preliminary rounds to advance first into the octofinals of the inaugural Gadjah Mada Debate Tournament. All three are also well-positioned in the top 10 speaker list. The elimination stage will go until the quarterfinals today. The grand final will take place tomorrow. Here is the break list.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

This year's Founders Trophy will grant 4 high school debaters scholarship in the form of special training and fee waiver so that they can compete in the longest-running BP tournament in Indonesia, which is open for all ages. A high school team from Canisius College Jakarta won FT a decade ago, beating top varsity debaters and a pair consisting of finance ministry officials in the final. However, no high school team could match that feat since. Last year, no high school debater even dared to join FT. The scholarship is meant to motivate leading high school debaters to take on tougher competition.

After the individual-based selection, the 4 chosen debaters will be paired up into 2 teams. English Debating Society Universitas Indonesia will train them so that they are ready to debate in the BP style, which is rarely taught to high school students who are accustomed to the 3-on-3 format. An applicant should fill a special form and submit it to ateamft2013@gmail.com before the end of October 25. Click here to read the announcement and access to the form. The scheme is open to all Indonesian high school debaters, regardless of geographical region or institution, but does not include accommodation and transport to UI's Depok campus, where the coaching and competition will take place. FT 2013 will run from November 29 to December 1.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Six Indonesian teams went to the 2013 Asian British Parliamentary debate tournament and 5 of them broke into the EFL knockouts. Ironically, the sixth pair, #28 Universitas Indonesia C (Nisrina Praharso & Elvia Sumayastra), performed the best among them in the prelims and matched the victory point of the last team that broke into the open knockouts. UI C could not advance into the elimination rounds because they were four spots short of the open break and one of the speakers had lived in Australia long enough to make her ineligible to debate in the EFL category. Here are the results of the Indonesian teams in ABP 2013.

Open GF. THBT military conscription should be regarded as a war crime
Open SF. THBT Southeast Asian nations should not help to stop the flow of asylum seekers to Australia
Open QF. Michael murdered his wife and 2 children. In his bid to escape the police, he fell and his his head. As a result of the fall, he lost all his memories after age 5. THW not convict Michael of any crime
EFL GF. THW ban all donations to religious organizations
EFL SF. THBT the US should reform its political system to encourage the creation of smaller parties
EFL QF. You are a doctor at an IVF clinic. A prominent conservative politician is at your clinic seeking IVF treatment. A 'gay gene' has been identified and one of the politician's embryo carries it. THW implant the gay embryo
R9. THW allow individuals to contract out of all basic employment provision in their contracts in return for increased wage
R8. THBT indigenous groups who live in geographically separate area should be given their own completely autonomous government
R7. THW prohibit financial settlements in lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies
R6. THBT media should never report on crimes intended to attract public attention
R5. THW ban Google from retaining users' data
R4. THBT Iran should take a leading role in the negotiation in Syria
R3. THW stop teaching classic literary works in favour of recently written text when teaching literature in school
R2. THW only prosecute the management, not the athlete, for usage of performance enhancing drugs
R1. THW ban all arranged marriage

The two debaters who became the first to marry the 3-on-3 and BP national championship titles, Jaran Walia and Invi Atmanegara from Binus International, are leading the 2013 Debater of the Year table after their performances in the Just for Fun Debate in September. Although they debated with different partners, Invi championed the contest and both entered the top 10 speaker list. No other competition contributed to the DOTY 2013 scoreboard from last month. There were several other tournaments in September but they had geographically limited participation. The 10 leading speakers are as follows:

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Just like last year, three Indonesian teams reached the final of the English-as-Foreign-Language category of the 2013 Asian British Parliamentary debate tournament and had to beat the only non-Indonesian squad in the room. Unfortunately for Indonesia, history repeated itself -- the odd team won. In 2012, it was Waseda University from Japan. This year Sichuan University from host country China denied the Indonesians - Binus International A (Jaran Walia & Melisa Irene), Binus International B (Andrianto Khiputra & Wilson Salim) and Universitas Indonesia B (Anastasia Sijabat & Magreta Kailla Adenta).

There was some consolation this time, though. Jaran Walia, who has had an amazing debating year, grabbed the best EFL speaker award. Schoolmates Melisa Irene and Wilson Salim also got into the top 10 EFL speaker list.

In the open category, history also repeated itself. National University of Singapore debaters Kelvin Chong and Xiao Hongyu reclaimed the title that they won last year. In the final, #3 NUS A defeated #1 Universiti Teknologi Mara A (Maizura Mokhsein & Shafiq Bazari), #2 Nanyang Technological University A (Vihasini Gopakumar & Lu Huiyi) and #9 International Islamic University A (Syed Saddiq & Mubarrat Wassey) in a debate with the motion "This House Believes That Military Conscription Should Regarded as a War Crime". For the fourth consecutive time, UT Mara's Mai Mokhsein fell in the grandfinal. Her partner Shafiq Bazari bagged the overall best speaker prize.

It was the first time NDC-NES used the British Parliamentary format after years being known as a 3-on-3 competition that had economics-themed motions. UI's Roderick Sibarani took home the best speaker award.

The 6th Asian British Parliamentary debate competition will take place next year in Kuching on the Malaysian side of Borneo island, aka Kalimantan, and Universitas Indonesia debater Boby Andika Ruitang will be one of the deputies to Chief Adjudicator Syed Saddiq from the host country. This is the third time for an Indonesian to get the honor to be part of the ABP adjudication core. Bryan Gunawan from Binus University was the first in ABP 2011, followed by Binus International's Invi Atmanegara last year.

#2EFL Binus International A (Jaran Walia & Melisa Irene), #5EFL Binus International B (Andrianto Khiputra & Wilson Salim) and #16EFL Universitas Indonesia B (Anastasia Sijabat & Magreta Kailla Adenta) will fight for the title in the English-as-Foreign-Language category of the 2013 Asian British Parliamentary debate competition after defeating their semifinal opponents. Sichuan University from host country China will join them in the grand final later today.

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Four Indonesian teams advanced into the semifinals of the English-as-Foreign-Language category at the 2013 Asian British Parliamentary Debate in China, taking half of the available slots. The rest of the semifinalists will come from the host country.

An all-Indonesian EFL final is possible. #2EFL Binus International A (Jaran Walia & Melisa Irene) and #15EFL Universitas Indonesia A (Ibrahim Panji Indra & Stella Kusumawardhani) will be in one chamber with 2 Chinese pairs while #5EFL Binus International B (Andrianto Khiputra & Wilson Salim) and #16EFL Universitas Indonesia B (Anas Sijabat & Magreta Kaila Adenta) will debate in the other against 2 other teams from China. The top 2 in each room will fight for the title in the final.

No Indonesian team slipped into the top 24 that can go into the open knockouts. Just like in the EFL section, the main semifinals will also be about two countries. The surviving 8 in the open competition all come from either Singapore or Malaysia. All remaining matches will take place tomorrow.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

#1 Universitas Indonesia (Roderick Sibarani & Rachmat Nugraha) came to the 2013 National Debating Competition-National Economic Seminar in Bandung as the only debaters representing the powerhouse and proved they were superior in the preliminary rounds. They lead the 4 teams that can break straight to the semifinals tomorrow. Eight other breaking teams need to fight for the remaining 4 spots in semis. Here is the break list containing 12 teams out of the 28 that competed.

pNone from Indonesia managed to advance into the main knockouts of the 2013 Asian British Parliamentary debate tournament but 5 Indonesian teams are still alive in the competition after breaking into the quarterfinals of the lower English-as-Foreign-Language category. Being held in populous China, where almost all teams from the host country are EFL, the category had more eligible teams than usual, compelling the organizers to qualify 16 pairs. The fifth Indonesian team, #17EFL Universitas Indonesia B, got through as a substitute after the ABP council meeting ruled one of the debaters of #9EFL Northeastern Normal University from China was an ineligible participant. The EFL break list is populated by Chinese, Indonesian, and Korean teams. The revised order is as follows.

Beihang University - Venue of ABP 2013

1. Chinese University of Hong Kong A
2. Binus International A
3. Beihang University C
4. Binus University A
5. Binus International B
6. Sichuan University A
7. Sun Yat Sen University A
8. Northeastern University Qinhuangdao A
9. Tsinghua University A
10. SolBridge International School of Business A
11. Sun Yat Sen University B
12. Tsinghua University C
13. NFLS A
14. China University of Petroleum D
15. Universitas Indonesia A16. Universitas Indonesia B

Six Indonesian teams went to China ABP. The only team that will no longer debate, Universitas Indonesia C, ranked above the ones who broke with 16 points - only a notch shy from the open break. One of its debaters, however, lived in Australia long enough to make her ineligible for EFL status.

The main break list is led by Singaporean and Malaysian teams with some Chinese pairs from Hong Kong slipping into pre-quarters along with a few Koreans and a pair each from India and the Philippines. The top 24 teams in the open competition are:

1. Universiti Teknologi Mara A
2. Nanyang Technological University A
3. National University of Singapore A
4. National University of Singapore B
5. International Islamic University B
6. Universiti Teknologi Mara D
7. Multimedia University Melaka A
8. Singapore Management University A
9. International Islamic University A
10. National University of Singapore C
11. University of Hong Kong A
12. International Islamic University C
13. Underwood International College A
14. Universiti Malaya B
15. National Law School of India University C
16. De La Salle University A
17. University of Hong Kong B
18. University of Hong Kong C
19. National University of Singapore D
20. Universiti Teknologi Mara B
21. International Medical University A
22. Chung Ang University A
23. Multimedia University Melaka B
24. Universiti Malaya A

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

No Asian team have won Australs so far. That is not the case when the men are dropped. #3 National University of Singapore 1 (Natalie Wang & Tan Lee Jing) defeated 3 teams from University of Sydney in the final of the 2013 Australasian Women's Debating Championship today. Two other Asian teams, including Universitas Indonesia (Iki Sari Dewi & Lisia Astari), competed in the tournament held by University of New South Wales but they could not break into the knockouts. Evangeline Woodforde (Sydney 2), whose team broke first and debated in the final, topped the speaker the tab.